"The trail ends here, sir" an imperial guard with a big build said while inspecting the trail of dried blood on the ground.
"Disperse to cover more ground, let's see how far he can run" the imperial guard in charge said with a stern look.
Somewhere else in the Thousand Beast Forest.
Stationed on the branch of a huge tree Yue Chen was covered in dried mud. This was a survival tactic he had adapted from the warfare strategies he had read while in the Gou Family Courtyard.
Directly below the tree two imperial guards sat down and started to converse. "Jiao Han, do you think that child is still inside this forest?" the stout guard asked.
Shaking his head the guard called Jiao Han retrieved a bottle of water from his storage ring. "If you ask me, I think the commander is overreacting, how much harm could a small child cause, and a cursed one at that!" resting against the tree where Yue Chen was hidden the imperial guard called Jiao Han snorted "tell you what, Man Tian, if that kid has any sense he'd already escape the border and maybe he's on his way to a neighboring city!"
Nodding his head the stout guard called Man Tian said "We're only wasting our time searching this place and there's no way we can disobey an order from the emperor himself so all we can do is keep looking around aimlessly for a kid who has already escaped"
Condensing sharp beast-like claws of ice Yue Chen prepared to launch an attack from the branches.
"shuu"
propelling himself forward Yue Chen's claws tore through the stout guard's throat from behind.
Feeling a sudden warmth on his shoulder the imperial guard called Jiao Han turned his head robotically in fright. Before he could scream his head was sent flying, blood spewing from the headless corpse.
Killing the imperial soldiers Yue Chen climbed the tree like an agile monkey, moving to a tree farther inside the forest.
Stopping at a safe distance away from the scene Yue Chen frowned. An unusually strong thirst for blood was corroding his head. The metallic smell of the blood on his hands made Yue Chen's mouth water.... Immediately snapping out of his daze Yue Chen became perturbed.
"Something's wrong" Yue Chen thought with furrowed brows. "Is it a side effect of the curse?" Trying to calm his emotions to no avail Yue Chen moved across the trees frantically.
Suddenly a wisp of dark energy seeped out from Yue Chen's pore, diffusing into the air, going unnoticed.
Feeling his qi was restless Yue Chen sat at the top of a large tree and started training with the Seven Shadow Forging Manual.
The Seven Shadow Forging Manual had consisted of Seven stages and a movement technique. With his current capabilities Yue Chen was only able to perform the first stage. The first stage required the user to 'capture' a shadow using the blood and bones to complete the process.
"A demonic manual?" reading the requirements of the first stage Yue Chen quickly came to the conclusion that the manual was created by a demonic cultivator.
Demonic cultivators were incomparably cruel cultivators that relied on vicious means to raise their powers. As this was an unorthodox means of cultivation, demonic cultivator were despised and hunted by orthodox cultivators and were barred from numerous cities.
After weighing the benefits to his cultivation Yue Chen decided to proceed. Assuming a cross-legged position Yue Chen began to gather qi. He had already broken through to the upper sky of the Nascent realm while in the city, after a being chased he didn't have the chance to cultivate at all.
... ... ... ...
After the death of two imperial guards, the commander had confirmed that Yue Chen was still within the forest and decided to station men around the forest. Unfortunately the Thousand Beast Forest was an extremely large area that couldn't be covered with a mere Battalion.
Sensing the impending headache he was due, the Battalion commander sighed. Personally he had no grudge against Yue Chen and saw him as an ordinary child. As the battalion commander was also of the Gou Family he knew that Yue Chen wasn't any different from the average sixteen year old if you didn't take his creepy shadow into account.
"Commander!" arriving before the commander the imperial guard reported "There has been fluctuations of demonic qi within a hundred Zhang (3.33 chinese meters) from here, most likely a demon beast, should we engage?"
"Ignore it, if it doesn't attack we shouldn't waste our energy, focus on finding the child" the battalion commander kept tapping against his leg, his instinct told him something awful was coming.
Sitting atop the tree Yue Chen was about to begin cultivating then suddenly felt a powerful demonic qi from far away. It was approaching at an alarming speed.
"A demon beast?" realizing that now wasn't the safest time to be cultivating Yue Chen stood up with furrowed brows. "Heh, how unlucky" sighing at his constant misfortune Yue Chen jumped down from the tree, landing steadily on the branch below.
Yue Chen moved along the trees, avoiding the area that had a powerful beast aura. Travelling in a straight line he approached the forest's exit.
The cursed brand on Yun Chen's cheek suddenly lit up, emitting a blinding red light. Blinded by the light Yun Chen's momentum was interrupted, causing him to lose his balance, falling to the ground.
"Thud"
"Ow ow ow, what was that?" Yue Chen asked in surprise. "This curse is trying to send me to the king Yama."
With a humming noise the cursed brand crawled down Yue Chen's cheek and shot into his shadow. Fused with the cursed brand the shadow shot out into the depths of the forest.
Thinking that the cursed brand was leading him to something Yue Chen decided to follow silently. Following his shadow Yue Chen took notice of the beast aura that was growing stronger the further in he went.
"The aura here should be at the Disaster realm, it's not safe to go any further" thinking about the dangers Yue Chen stopped running and watched his shadow disappear into the depths of the forest. As he was about to retreat Yue Chen felt his qi grow thin and his body was losing strength at a steady rate. "is it my shadow?" the disappearance of his shadow was the only possible reason Yue Chen could come up with to explain his sudden weakness. It was his first time allowing his shadow to run off like this.
"Hmph, you'd best not lead me to my death!" Turning again Yue Chen chased after his shadow helplessly.
There was an inexplicable bond between Yue Chen and his shadow, allowing him to locate it's exact position and follow after it. It didn't take him long to catch up to his shadow and soon Yue Chen had managed to match his shadows pace as they entered an open area inside the forest.
Standing in the open area was a small graveyard, four tablets stood erected , moss and weeds covering them, it seemed as if time had worn them down, the edges had fallen off and the words inscribed onto them were partially faded.